PacBio RS II Upgrade: We are pleased to announce the RSII upgrade of our PacBio instrument. Initial runs indicate that we are far exceeding the machine specification in terms of read number and yield, providing more than 80,000 reads and in excess of 500 Mbp. This makes our PacBio sequencing an even more versatile asset for a wide range of genomics projects. Additionally, we are carrying out R&D on using the PacBio for transcriptome sequencing, anticipating that the long reads will help identify alternative spliceforms. Other near-term applications include microbial community analysis by amplifying and sequencing the entire prokaryotic 16s rRNA gene.